Daises in the Chesapeake Bay
by PKR-writer
Summary: Everyone wants the Chesapeake Ripper off the streets, and most believe he is until a series of murders begin to happen, and it is revealed that he is back on the street. This time Jack has enlisted the help of Detective Emerson Cod to help solve the murders for the final time. Little does Hannibal know that Ned has the magic touch to reveal everything.


**A/N: This plot has been in my mind for a couple of years now, and I always wondered what would happened if the Pie maker and his group came to solve the murders of the mysterious, elusive Chesapeake Bay Ripper. The timeline is going to be the middle of season one of Hannibal (just when he started killing again. The ambulance murder episode), and the end of Pushing Daisies.**

Ned stared at his longtime partner, Emerson with disbelief. "You're serious?" He said, and he knew that he was serious. "This isn't a regular murder or misplaced suspicion. This is a true to the bone, scary serial killer." Ned persisted.

"Yes," Emerson began, "But the FBI has enlisted yours truly in an attempt to catch the killer. I'm getting paid big bucks to catch this killer, and that means you're getting paid big bucks." He leaned forward. Ned shifted uncomfortable in his seat. This whole thought about going after a genuine serial killer had him nervous. "It should be easy," Emerson explained, "All we need to do is just touch a couple of bodies, and then we can be on our way."

"What about touching a couple of bodies," Chuck, or Charlotte known to few, inquired as she sat next to Emerson.

"We're going after the Chesapeake Bay Ripper," Ned said, and hoped for once Chuck wouldn't be excited about going after a killer. There was a flash of concern in her eyes briefly before she leaned into the table.

"Well it's not as if the Pie Hole is not doing alright on its own now," She began, "You were able to hire an Assistant Manager because of the extra flow in cash, and she knows how to bake just as well as you do." She explained. "But are you sure about this Emerson?" She then looked at the detective, and begrudging friend of hers. Ned swallowed a breath of relief when his Assistant Manager, Julie, came up to him. She was small, almost Olive's height, and of Asian descent. She was a single parent, but she was a very hard worker, and a good asset to the Pie Hole.

"Hey Ned," she began after a moment, and looked at the table in front of her, "am I interrupting something?" She asked.

"No, not at all," Emerson interrupted Ned before he could speak. "In fact, Ned was just telling us that he was going to let you be in charge this next couple of weeks." He was about to correct him when he saw the delight, and excitement flash in his Julie's eyes.

"Really?" She asked, "I was just about ask if I could get more hours, because of my daughter's birthday coming up, and I really want to do something nice for her." Ned closed his eyes, and he was a sucker in that moment because he had met her daughter, he and the whole group had grown quite fond of her child.

"Yes," Ned squeaked out. "Chuck and I have a-a-anniversary coming up, and we thought it would be better to get out of town for a bit." It almost wasn't a lie. The date that Ned brought Chuck back to life was coming up soon, and it was celebrated as such. Chuck smiled at him, and so did Julie.

"That's really sweet," she replied back, "Oh, I need to tell the bus driver where to drop her off now." She said to herself before she walked away from the group.

"You see," Emerson began once more after the woman left, "She's happy, we're going to be with you, and Olive is going to help her." He ended as Olive walked up to the table a short time after.

"You guys are going 'away'," she began with obvious quotation marks around the word. Ned had finally came clean to her a couple of years back, and she took it extremely well. She explained so many things that she had been curious about all the years she worked with him were finally answered. "I'm staying back," she asked even though she knew the answered. A waitress had to stay back to help out in the restaurant regardless if it there was a manager or not.

Though now the two had occasionally traded spots in Emerson's, and Ned's investigations. They normally would be put in as an 'in girl,' and more or less Ned was more comfortable with him being on the inside than having Chuck, and even Olive.

"What about your daughter," Ned asked, trying to find excuses not to go to that area. He had a bad feeling about this, and it just reeked with danger. He read the news, the Ripper was merciless, and he was terrified for all the right reasons.

Simone, and Emerson were in a serious relationship, and after his daughter had found him after all the years he had spent away from her she demanded that she would at least get to spend the summer with him. That meant that Simone, and him had to settle down, which was harder for Emerson than Simone. However, Simone being the strong driven woman she was/is, was able to get him into that situation comfortably.

"School just started," Emerson said, and Ned groaned.

"Emerson's right," Chuck reassured him, "we'll be with you, the whole way through."

"Fine," Ned answered defeated, and his eyes closed as he leaned back into the booth. He didn't want to see the satisfied looks on their faces that he had agreed.

"Fantastic," Emerson said as he leaned on the tabletop, "We leave tonight." He said, and everyone agreed.

Ned with through everything with Julie, and showed how to keep up with everything, and she continued to insist that she would be fine handling it on her own. He gave her the spare key, and waved goodbye to her, Olive, and Julie's daughter on his way out. It wasn't unusual for her daughter to stay there while she worked on days she couldn't find anyone to watch her. She was also very well behaved, and just would sit there drawing, or doing school work. It wasn't as if they didn't already have Digby hanging around the Pie Shop anyhow.

Ned walked into his apartment so he could pack and leave, but it seemed that Chuck had it already taking care of. She stood at the door with a cheerful expression on her face. She would never age, basically she was in a standstill from when she died, and he touched her alive again. Digby would go to her Aunt's. Ever since they revealed that she was alive again they frequently visited the two shut in's. Either that or they came for some pies.

"Everything is all set," Ned asked, and he less than thrilled. He was fine with run of the mills murders even suicides however, this was a completely different ball game. This person was strategically killing people off, and he or she left bodies blatantly out in the open for people to find. It was mocking justice, and right now Emerson was thinking dollar bills.

"Yup," Chuck nodded, "Digby is with my Aunts, and Emerson said his goodbyes to Simone and said he will meet us at the hotel." She informed him. Technically the FBI was working directly with Emerson, but it didn't mean that he couldn't bring his own expert. Bringing back the dead even for a second definitely made Ned infinitely useful. Ned sighed.

"Alright," he said.

"Don't be so worried about this," Chucked assured him with a smile as cautiously touched his sleeve. "We'll be with you every step the way." He somehow doubt it, but he nodded and gave her a weak smile.

"Let's get going," he said with a sigh, and grabbed his keys.

"Are you sure about this," a man asked as he shifted uncomfortably on his feet in front of the bodies that were recently found on displayed for them. The Ripper was making them pay, and having fun while doing so.

"Emerson Cod has an uncanny ability to solve unsolvable murders," Jack answered as he looked back to the man who could uncannily profit the murderers just as Emerson could solve them. "I want this man found." He said as he leaned against the cold metal table. "He's on the rampage so to speak for decades, and he needs to be put out this business." The man he was speaking to the profiler was Will Graham. He had the unspeakable ability to empathize with the killer to the point to where he knew why, and how the killer was killing people.

However, his ability left him an unsociable mess. He normally preferred sticking to teaching classes, and keeping company of his dogs. He didn't want to socialize unless he had to, and Alanna was still on the side of keeping him out of Jack's obsession with finding the Chesapeake Ripper. Jack had Hannibal's words of reassurance, and he trusted the man to tell him when to take Will out of field.

"When is he supposed to arrive," he asked after a moment of silence.

"Tonight," he said, "he said he has his own expert that will have a look at the body." He looked down at the body of a man, and shook his head. He didn't know what he would find out or what leads he would get from a body that has already been thoroughly examined. However, he was desperate, and Detective Cod had an expert he likes to bring with him. If he finds out the identity with the evidence needed to get his ass in jail then he may ask him to join on a more permanent manner.

He didn't want to mention how adamant Alanna was about him not using Will's ability to the point where she found him in a random word by mouth from a client. Then she looked him out herself, and brought all of the work in front of him. Every case he ever took on he solved, and an almost unimaginable rate of success.

What he didn't want to tell Will was that he was a little relieved that he was using someone else besides him. From what he could tell, the man was completely solid, and a damn good businessman. He hoped that he could solve the Chesapeake Bay Ripper, and he did mean good on his words that he would let Will be teaching his classes.

They heard the loud, and subtle clacks of heels against the floor, and soon Alanna appeared in the doorway. "Has he arrived yet?" She asked as she joined Will's side. She was very protective of him, and he seemed more comfortable around her. She was more of an anchor than he was, and he sighed.

"Alanna, he said he would be here tonight," he told her, "they are driving from New York, and who knows the traffic than otherwise bad."

"You can say that again," a voice sounded, at the doorway stood two men. Emerson Cod looked exactly the way he did on the television shoot he did one time as a witness. He was about Jack's height, and had some weight to him. He also stood with a sense of pride and dignity that could never be erased.

The man beside him was another story. He was tall, and pale. He was almost skinny, but there was some weight to him. He never really did any hard work in his life. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, and avoided eye contact with everyone in the room. Meanwhile he was just as observant as Emerson Cod was in his surrounds.

"Emerson Cod I assume," Jack said as he walked up to the man to shake his hand. What he wasn't surprised of was the firm, and confident handshake from the man behind it.

"You assume correctly," Emerson said with a sale's pitch smile, "this is my associate." He introduced the man beside him, and he initially nodded at Jack before relinquishing his hand to a handshake as well. It was surprisingly firm, but his hand went straight back into his pockets soon after.

"Are you sure you don't need our help?" He asked him, and though they had gathered all the information they could get from victim. It was still a little odd for them to request time alone with the body.

"Trust me," he said with his hand up in all honesty. "Just a minute alone with the body is all we need." He assured Jack, and he nodded. It must be just standard so they can get comfortable with the situation himself before getting filled in from the reports they have made.

"Alright," Jack said, and nodded to the two associates he worked with on a daily bases. "We will be just outside if you need us."

Ned looked at the table, and yes he had seen some awful things, but those things were done out of passion, and in the heat of the moment. This was different. This was a man who thought out every single detail enough to where he put his victim on display. He was taunting, and telling the law enforcement that he couldn't be caught. He sighed.

"Are you ready for this?" Emerson asked. He had the questions already ready to ask, and Chuck was irritated that she couldn't come, but coming to an official FBI headquarter was playing too much with faith.

"No." He answered honestly, and he ready himself to touch the victim.


End file.
